Village plans for vehicle recycling centre refused

Plans for a new vehicle recycling centre in a village have been refused by councillors.

West Suffolk Council's development control committee met on Wednesday to discuss the plans on land close to the village of Stanton.

Developers want to build a storage and distribution facility for processing accident damaged and non-damaged vehicles.

Resident objections were heard during the meeting with one saying there were "robust grounds to refuse the planning application".

Jaynic Suffolk Park Logistics Limited applied to build on land at Shepherds Grove which had existing industrial facilities used by other companies.

According to planning documents, Copart UK - a company involved in the salvage and resale of used vehicles - would operate from the site.

A new link road and roundabout to Grove Lane had also been proposed.

During the meeting, councillors heard that Stanton Parish Council supported the proposal and that the "building of a new relief road outweighs any concerns" - despite acknowledging its impact.

Hepworth Parish Council objected, citing the traffic impact and pollution risks among its concerns.

Hepworth resident, Nigel Burrows, told councillors he objected to the plans and there had been 105 objections from residents.

"There are robust grounds to refuse the planning application and you should have no qualms going against the planning officer's recommendation," he added.

Kate Reece, another local resident, similarly told the council their own policy was to reduce the number of HGVs through Great Barton and the surrounding villages.

"This is surely not the way to reduce pollution on this stretch of road," she said.

"It therefore seems astounding and totally illogical for any report to come to the conclusion that there will be no significant impact on the A143 and surrounding villages."

Councillors voted with 10 for refusal of the application - and four for approval.

The application had previously been deferred from consideration at a previous meeting on 6 March, where councillors were minded to refuse it despite planning officer recommendation.

During this meeting councillors were told additional traffic generated by the site and by cars travelling through the surrounding villages to avoid "peak time congestion on the A143 would have a significant harmful impact on the amenity of residents".

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